Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Whispers in the Alliance
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Deep within the Murim Alliance.
In a serene chamber filled with quiet tranquility, a middle-aged man wielded his brush over a sheet of white paper.
Swish— Swish—
How many times had those elegant strokes traced long lines across the paper following the gentle movements of his hand?
A moment later, the blank sheet brimmed with life—a vibrant orchid painting came to life.
The middle-aged man gazed at his completed orchid with a satisfied smile playing on his lips.
"Hmm. This one's quite good."
Setting down his brush and lifting his head, the man's face was truly striking.
A sharp jawline and high nose bridge.
Beyond that, his soft eyes hinted that he must have been renowned as a handsome man in his youth.
The man exuded an extraordinary presence and aura—clearly no ordinary figure.
The Murim Alliance Leader, the Sword Hero of Heart and Righteousness!
A legendary figure who had ascended to his position wielding nothing but a single sword, a swordsman even the Nine Great Sects yielded to.
Whoosh—
A breeze blew in, sending his neatly combed-up hair cascading through his hairband, brushing across his face.
This only amplified his already distinctive aura.
At the same time, his lips parted slowly.
"You can come out now."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a man appeared in the empty courtyard.
With hair half white and half black, his age was impossible to gauge—neither clearly elderly nor middle-aged. He regarded the ink painting with impassive eyes.
"It's overflowing with more vitality than before."
The man examined the orchid painting in detail.
The ink-only artwork was so full of life it tricked the eye into seeing a real orchid.
The Alliance Leader smiled with creased lines of amusement.
"Thanks to you. I took your advice to treat the brush like a sword, and it yielded such fine results."
"I'm glad it helped, Alliance Leader."
The man who had sought out the reclusive Alliance Leader for a private audience after years of seclusion was no pushover himself.
The Murim Alliance's Military Strategist, Zhuge Gong.
He was the man who had remained alone in the Alliance even when the entire Zhuge family had withdrawn, known as the brain of the Murim Alliance.
"But isn't it quite amusing?"
As he spoke, the Alliance Leader casually dropped his brush.
Roll—
The still-ink-dipped brush tumbled across the paper, smearing the finished painting.
Yet he showed no further interest in it, as if his passion had evaporated.
Instead, he lifted his head and stared into the distance.
Gazing silently toward the sparring grounds, he murmured in a low voice.
"For Mount Hua Sect—not Geomgak or Cheongsung—to produce a Heavenly Martial Realm expert. Who in the world could have foreseen it?"
"It's all my failing."
The strategist quickly bowed his head.
"I shouldn't have so hastily assumed Mount Hua was in irreversible decline and withdrawn my attention."
"No. I would have done the same."
The Alliance Leader brushed it off with a gentle smile.
"If you had predicted this, I'd suspect you were an immortal."
The Alliance Leader spoke with a touch of jest.
If a Heavenly Martial Realm master had emerged from Geomgak, Cheongsung, or any other of the Nine Great Sects, it would have been believable.
They had amassed power over long years and were now at the height of their prosperity.
Mount Hua, however, was different.
It teetered on the brink of collapse.
After the Elm Grove Bloodbath—a catastrophe that claimed the outstanding later-generation talent known as the Plum Blossom Sword Hero and all the Plum Blossom Sword Guards in one fell swoop—it had walked the path of decline.
That was why even he had completely written off Mount Hua.
"A dying fish still leaps, they say. So even the Nine Great Sects retain that accumulated foundation over centuries. Can't ignore it."
Murmuring quietly to himself, the Alliance Leader turned to the strategist.
"The Beggar Clan has made contact with Mount Hua."
"Yes."
"Do you think Mount Hua can fulfill the roles of Geomgak or Cheongsung?"
"As you know, drawing even with the Jongnam Sword Saint has sent the Mount Hua Divine Sword's fame piercing the heavens. Moreover, the Seven Plum Blossom Swords, led by Ilhongmae, have recently demonstrated formidable skills and built their own reputations..."
The strategist's eyes narrowed.
"Not right now, but given time, they should be more than capable. And with their new alliance to the Beggar Clan, that timeline shortens even further."
"Is that your answer?"
The Alliance Leader fixed his gaze on the strategist, who nodded silently in response.
How long did he stare?
"Hahaha."
The Alliance Leader burst into hearty laughter.
Then, retracting his aura, he stroked his long, beautiful hair.
"I think the same. Mount Hua is showing momentum to catch up to Geomgak and Cheongsung soon... However."
In an instant, the room's atmosphere shifted.
The warmth from moments ago vanished, replaced by chilling air that enveloped the standing strategist.
"One thing is wrong."
The strategist's eyebrow twitched slightly.
"What might that be?"
"The Jongnam Sword Saint didn't go all out in the spar."
"...Are you saying the Jongnam Sword Saint went easy on the Mount Hua Divine Sword?"
"Exactly."
The Alliance Leader's voice was calm.
"And the rumors circulating differ from the truth."
His eyes deepened like abyssal voids.
He knew about the White Killing God.
His inaction level, even his master who trained him.
Thus, he didn't believe for a second that the Mount Hua Divine Sword had slain the White Killing God.
"From what we see now, someone clearly assisted the Mount Hua Divine Sword from the shadows when he felled the White Killing God."
Grasping what the Alliance Leader meant, the strategist replied softly.
"...I'll look into it thoroughly."
At the strategist's words, the Murim Alliance Leader cleared his thoughts and wore a faint smile.
"Haha. With you personally on the move, it's truly reassuring."
The Alliance Leader slowly rose to his feet.
Walking toward the courtyard blooming with flowers, he toyed with an orchid as he asked.
"How fares the Evil-Black Alliance?"
"Not a twitch."
"Hm, as expected. The fall of White Ghost Castle alone isn't enough to shake their leader."
If anyone intimately familiar with the two had overheard, they'd be plunged into bewilderment by the ongoing conversation.
The Murim Alliance Leader hadn't stepped beyond his residence in years since becoming leader.
And the strategist? He had left everything to his disciple and deputy, the Snow Sword, before vanishing.
Yet here they were, discussing external affairs as if fully informed.
"Any hitches in the plan?"
The strategist shook his head.
"None. There were minor twists, but it's proceeding smoothly. At this rate, the Nine Great Sects will fracture within a decade as planned."
The Alliance Leader clasped his hands behind his back and straightened his posture.
"Haha, going well."
Whispering to himself, he looked at the strategist.
The strategist's expression was impassive.
But the Alliance Leader could read it.
Beneath that mask-like stoicism lay deep resolve and determination.
"Then proceed from here."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Circulating the Plum Blossom Divine Art late into the night to absorb the lingering cold qi within his body, Cheonhwi's lips twitched.
The effects of daily meditation during his stay at the Murim Alliance were finally showing.
'Yes, this is more like it.'
Observing his roughly accumulated internal energy, a satisfied smile graced Cheonhwi's lips.
The yin qi of the Earth Spirit Jade Physique, experienced only through writings, was purer and cleaner than anything.
'Just a bit left now—about five parts out of ten. A few days, and it'll all be absorbed.'
Sensing the cold qi still stubbornly lodged in the corner of his lower dantian, Cheonhwi ended his meditation and slowly opened his eyes.
Smirk—
Surveying the spacious room, his lips curved higher than before.
Just a day ago, it had been a shabby quarters; now, an antique chamber welcomed him.
The conclusion with the Jongnam Sect.
A draw, but with the Jongnam Sword Saint's concession, the annex they gained was leagues above their previous lodgings.
"Finally feels like a place fit for humans."
As he admired the new chamber, azure moonlight shattered beautifully through the window.
His gaze drifted outside, entranced.
Staring at the silver river in the dark sky, memories of the spar surfaced unbidden.
Internal energy like the Milky Way, footwork crossing that river.
Cheonhwi's eyes, reflecting the Jongnam Sword Saint's techniques likened to the galaxy, deepened with absorbed darkness.
For a moment, his mouth opened.
"So, what brings you here?"
At that instant.
Shh—
A silhouette emerged under the blue moonlight.
It was the Jongnam Sword Saint.
"I concealed my presence, yet you noticed."
"Ah, was that supposed to be concealed?"
The Jongnam Sword Saint's eyes widened.
"You knew from the start?"
"Wouldn't it be weirder if I didn't?"
Surprise flickered in the Jongnam Sword Saint's eyes.
Having reached the Heavenly Martial Realm, he had merged with nature itself.
Yet this young man, barely past his early twenties, had detected him from the beginning—astonishment turned to awe.
"The Beggar Leader praised you until his lips went dry. Not exaggeration after all."
"Pardon? Who?"
Cheonhwi's brows furrowed into an eight (八).
'Different from our deal last time?'
He recalled his transaction with Yong Ju-gae.
Clearing past grudges between sects in exchange for erasing his information.
Yet now the Jongnam Sword Saint claimed to know of him from Yong Ju-gae.
'That old ginger-like geezer wouldn't just hand over info breaking the deal...'
Recalling the fox-like Beggar Leader, Cheonhwi's eyes narrowed.
"What did the Beggar Leader say?"
"That you might vie for the world's top in the next generation. A bit overstated, of course..."
"Well, that's true enough."
The Jongnam Sword Saint momentarily lost his words.
The next generation's top martial artist, acknowledged by the Beggar Leader.
If word leaked, it would cause a storm.
Normally, one would demur humbly.
'Haha, he accepts it outright.'
Cheonhwi affirmed it casually, as if stating the obvious.
"Haha."
A chuckle escaped involuntarily.
'Confidence is peerless.'
Before being a Daoist, he was a murim warrior of the jianghu.
And perhaps due to youth, that brazen spirit felt endearing.
'Just as the Beggar Leader said.'
Internally marveling, the Jongnam Sword Saint recalled that morning.
After the spar, Yong Ju-gae had slipped in Cheonhwi's info while handing over details—subtly urging attention.
Suspicious of ulterior motives at first, he dismissed it.
But then:
'In Mount Hua, the one warranting more focus than even the Mount Hua Divine Sword is that kid.'
He fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
And so far, it seemed the Beggar Leader was right.
Detecting his presence.
The brimming confidence.
If he also possessed martial prowess as described...
'With the Evil-Black Alliance and Heavenly Ascension Society stirring ominously lately. Heaven aids us.'
White Ghost Castle's destruction and Heavenly Ascension Society's movements.
Cracks were forming in the long-held balance of the Nine Provinces' Three Great Powers.
'War will erupt someday.'
The Jongnam Sword Saint sensed—no, was certain—of impending war.
The jianghu was a world where the strong reigned supreme.
Peace could never last eternally.
'A new star from the Alliance in this situation is a good omen. But...'
The Jongnam Sword Saint's eyes gleamed.
One thing remained.
"Then, I'd like to gauge the source of your power myself."
With those words, he looked at Cheonhwi.
A Daoist clad in Mount Hua robes.
Yet his actions and speech resembled a jianghu warrior more than a Daoist.
'Is his heart truly righteous?'
Skill mattered, but for the righteous sects, a pure heart was paramount.
"Gauge it?"
Meanwhile, Cheonhwi's eyes half-lidded.
*Perfect,* he thought.
He'd already grown intrigued by the Jongnam Sword Saint from their spar.
His realm, his techniques.
And now, offered freely.
Cheonhwi grinned.
"Sure. Shall we spar?"
Seeing Cheonhwi accept readily, the Jongnam Sword Saint's expression softened.
"No, a full spar would be too much."
He refused.
"Then how?"
The Jongnam Sword Saint smiled faintly.
Then, in a low voice:
"Do you know of sword discussion sparring?"